Scientists Harness Microbes to Break Down Plastics

Plastic waste is a pressing global issue, with hundreds of millions of tonnes produced annually and only a small proportion successfully recycled. To address this problem, researchers are exploring new biological approaches to break down plastics.

Professor Amy Cain, an ARC-funded researcher, is leading work on harnessing naturally occurring microbes to degrade common plastics. Her team has identified the genes and enzymes responsible for plastic degradation in the gut of the wax moth caterpillar (Galleria mellonella).

The caterpillars have demonstrated an unusual ability to break down low-density polyethylene, a common component of single-use plastic products.

To scale up this process, Professor Cain's team is using advanced genomic techniques and support from the Australian Genome Foundry. They are developing new methods to rapidly test gene function and identify promising candidates for plastic degradation.

The research has already produced early results, including the identification of microbial strains capable of degrading multiple types of plastic, and improvements in their performance through adaptive laboratory techniques.